Tradition
by The Dark Crimson Blood
Summary: Ace visits his little brother every year on New Year's Day. It's tradition. World Today Series #7 Oneshot


**Title**: New Year's Mistakes  
><strong>Words: 2,073<br>****Characters**: Ace, Luffy**  
>Genres<strong>: Angst, Tragedy  
><strong>Author<strong>: The Dark Crimson Blood  
><strong>Summary<strong>: Expensive hospital treatments take the life of an ordinary child. AU World Today Series #7

* * *

><p>Luffy was never really a normal child.<p>

Born far earlier than he was supposed to be; Luffy was born with a small body and big eyes. It's confusing when he can't open his eyes or force sound from his mouth as most babies would. Placed in an incubator after breathing tubes are placed into him, little Luffy has never really been held by anyone in his new family. However, as baffling as it was, the people he couldn't see still seemed to love him. It takes a week for him to open his eyes, and when he does he's happy to see the whole new world set out before him. Colors and shapes of all kinds come into view; but the most amazing thing of them all, was the little boy staring at him with amazement in his eyes.

The smile on the older child's face lights up as much as his eyes do, sparkling with curiosity and excitement at the sight of his baby brother. The words that leave his mouth are things Luffy can't really understand, but he smiles anyway. The young child with raven hair just above shoulder length and with freckles scattered across his face, raises a hand and points to himself. "Portgas D. Ace." Luffy babbles and giggles and reaches his tiny hand out to touch the glass; he's happy to see Ace place his hand on the glass as well.

Luffy sees this little boy named Ace almost every day while he's in his glass confinement. Sometimes he comes with a woman with long blonde hair or a man with shaggy black hair. They both smile at him and seem to be just as happy as he is. Luffy wonders who they are and what their names are, but his questions and curiosity are soon forgotten when the glass cage keeping him inside is finally opened. The first person who holds him is this child named Ace, and Luffy couldn't be any happier.

Despite having no conception for time and how it passes, Luffy knows it's passing because he's gradually getting bigger and learning new things. Despite it only being extremely short distances, the small raven haired child finds it now possible to walk on two limbs called limbs rather than crawling around all the time. White things called teeth grow in his mouth, and small words can now easily be pronounced. Learning was fun. It was even more fun whenever Ace, who was apparently nine years old now, would come with an object called a book and read to him.

Three year old Luffy loved Ace. Out of everyone else in this thing he called family, Ace was his favorite. Ace would bring toys and sneak in candy and play with him every time he visited. To Luffy, Ace was amazing. The two other people who would sometimes come with Ace were fun to be around too; the man would swing him around and throw him up into the air, whereas the woman would sing to him and teach him new things he didn't know of yet. Luffy loved his family.

Two years pass.

Luffy still doesn't have any friends even though he's already six years old, but that doesn't really matter. Ace is all Luffy needs and all he will ever need, as far as the younger of the two is concerned. So the tiny five year old boy can't exactly wrap his mind around the reason why Ace seems to gradually begin visiting him less and less. The older boy used to visit him at least five times a week, but lately it had become three or four times a week at most. Though happy Ace still came to visit him, Luffy just didn't understand what was going on.

If Ace wasn't enough; the two people who called themselves his parents had begun visiting even less too. Whenever they did visit him, they'd frown and shake their heads in his direction. Little Luffy can't help but wonder if he did something wrong or if he said something that made them angry. They don't bring him toys anymore, and they don't seem to laugh with him as much as they used too. That was okay though, because they were still there for him... Sometimes.

Their new behavior doesn't stop. Rather, it gets worse. Over the course of five months, the Portgas family slowly but surly begins to stop visiting Luffy all together. Luffy doesn't know why they don't visit him anymore, but he never has the chance to ask questions. They're already gone; Luffy wonders if he'll ever see them again. Without his mother or his father or Ace, Luffy finds himself feeling lonely. Having absolutely no way to contact his family, Luffy is surprised when Ace shows up, completely out of the blue on New Years Day.

Luffy is happy. He smiles, claps his hands together, and nearly pounces on Ace the second he walks through the door. Ace, however, doesn't really share his excitement. The older, eleven year old boy, simply closes the door behind him and sits down in a chair beside his hospital bed. "Ace!" Luffy smiles, reaching out to his brother while having the full intention of hugging him long enough so he'd never leave again. "I missed you!"

"Good for you."

Luffy blinks dumbly at his brother's harsh tone; for a second, he's completely unable to process the words leaving his brother's mouth. His teeth dig into his bottom lip and his body shrinks back. "That's mean Ace." The small child whispers underneath his breath, barely echoing over the silence of the small hospital room. Determined as ever, the smile on his face soon returns and he tries again. "You must've missed me too, right?

"No." Ace rejects almost automatically. His obsidian eyes never once come into contact with Luffy's. His tone is just as harsh as before, and Luffy finds himself reacting similar to before. Through Luffy's big, brown eyes, it seems like talking with him is the last thing Ace wants to do. "You're tiny, weak, and downright boring. Why couldn't I have gotten a healthy baby brother?" Ace finishes with a slight exhale. The slight quivering of his lip goes unnoticed.

"Then... Are you happy I'm alive?"

"No." Ace lies through his teeth and avoids eye contact completely.

Luffy's eyes downcast themselves.

From that day on, Ace visits his younger brother every day on New Years. Without missing a beat, the conversation never changes and Luffy is left feeling far more alone than he's ever felt before. It's on New Years Eve that his parents visit, Rouge and Roger. By now Luffy is eight years old, almost nine, but that doesn't matter. What matters to Luffy, are the trembling words that leave his parent's mouths.

"You're going to die." They tell him, not even bothering to enter the room. "We can't afford to keep you alive anymore. We're sorry." There's not a bit of remorse left in their eyes, not a bit or regret or sadness or anything that could have reassured Luffy that they would at least miss him if he died. It appeared as if they had let him go a long time ago. Luffy can only smile and nod as he watches them force themselves into the room, and he watches as they discreetly unplug the machines that were keeping him alive. The machines that allowed him to breathe and eat and _live._ "Don't tell the doctors. Hide it. Die and make our family happy."

"Don't tell Ace."

The 'We love you' Luffy had wanted to hear from them never comes, and Luffy's left alone once again.

Ace visits again the next day. Just as he always does, he enters the room with a frown on his face and sagged shoulders. His steps falter has he catches sight of his little brother, lying on the bed just as he always does, but this time something's different and Luffy knows it. Ace always growing, getting older and stronger every year and it's obvious to Luffy even though he doesn't see it happen. Luffy's heard about Ace's friends, his accomplishments in life, and how happy he is without him. Luffy can't help but feel sad when he thinks about never getting to see the smile on Ace's face when he finally bites the dust. The frown on Ace's face would cease to exist and he could finally be happy without a sickly little brother depressing him all the time.

_'Make him hate you, so he won't be sad when another family adopts him. He'll get better treatment that way.' _These are the painful words that echo through Ace's head as he stares blankly at the little boy in front of him. The fourteen year old boy doesn't want his little brother to leave, he wants to be able to see Luffy every day and tell him stories and teach him new things; but he knows he can't. His parent's can't afford his treatment anymore, and the only other option was death. As much as Ace didn't want his brother to leave, he didn't want Luffy to die either. So, as he stares at his brother's smiling face, he wonders why Luffy doesn't downright despise him right now. Today, for some reason, Luffy seems to be smiling far brighter than he other has before.

"If I die, will you be happy?"

"Yeah." Ace lies, and at the same time he wonders why Luffy is asking him this. He doesn't question it, but he doesn't question it either. Right now, Ace would be contempt with simply visiting Luffy every year on New Years. "I'd be the happiest person in the universe.

Ace feels his eyes stinging with tears; as much as he wants to stand up and hug the child in front of him and show him just how much Luffy was loved, he knew it was impossible. Quickly standing to his feet, Ace makes a beeline for the door. His hand grips tightly onto the handle, and just as he opens the door, the last words he hears from his little brother echo through his ears. "Goodbye, Ace." Ace stops for no longer than a second, because it doesn't just feel as if Luffy is casually telling him goodbye just as he does every year. Rather, it sounds as if he's saying goodbye to Ace forever. As if they were never going to see each other again after this. Ace swallows heavily, but forces his feet forward to leave despite his feelings.

"Bye Luffy."

Portgas D. Luffy is reported dead less than ten minutes after Ace's departure.

The boy that never got the chance to see the home he was supposed to live in, couldn't be dead, because he still hasn't come home from the hospital yet.

Ace tells himself.

The little boy that never got to make friends or go to school and live the life of a normal little boy couldn't be dead yet, because he still hasn't had his first day of school yet.

Ace lies to himself.

The little boy who grew up alone in a white hospital bed with no one to talk to and no one to play with couldn't be dead yet, because Ace still hasn't had the chance to tell him just how much he was loved.

Ace finds himself taking up the habit of visiting Luffy's grave every day on New Years; where he hugs a cold gravestone instead of a warm little boy.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: In the world today, expensive hospital bills kill people in more ways than one. World Today Series #7  
><strong>

**Happy New Years, here's some holiday angst. :) **

**Leave a review.**

**_~The Dark Crimson Blood_**


End file.
